884By Brenda Groves The Post Newspaper Contributing Writer
Dear Readers, I wrote this column several years ago, but it bears repeating ….
I had left my office a few weeks ago at the end of a busy day. I had barely looked up from my desk and computer. In fact, my head was still in a bent down angle as I came around the corner of the building toward my car. But I finally did look up and witnessed one of the most stunning sunsets I have ever seen displayed across the sky. Bright orange and red as if the very clouds were on fire! I grabbed my camera, snapped a photo, and thought “How AWESOME is our God.” And these verses best describe what my heart felt in that moment: “Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great: You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters, Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind, Who makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire.” With a sense of sadness, I have since then wondered what else I might have missed as my nose has been to the grindstone. And this verse came to mind: “But you Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Wow! This prophecy was written several thousand years ago but it describes our lives perfectly today!! All you have to do is just watch commercials to get a pretty good indicator on what our society is focused on. “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”
There is a battle going on for our hearts. A tug of war. Satan is trying to get us to keep our minds on the things of this world and drive us to harden our hearts against God and become hard of hearing. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” And the Holy Spirit is trying to soften our hearts and lead us to yield ourselves to Him, so God can transform us back into who we were created to look like …. in His image. So we are being reminded/courted. Constantly. “… because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them, for since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen …” There are three words that I recently heard that really got my attention. Recognize. Respect. Respond. Now, I know it sounds like I am preaching here but it is a part of my ongoing testimony that it was the message of God’s unconditional love for us that drew me in to open my heart and mind to reach out and receive by faith what God had already provided by grace. Jesus. “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. …. Now when these things begin to happen, LOOK UP AND LIFT UP YOUR HEADS, because your redemption draws near.” Praise God for this time of grace where every person has been given the opportunity to recognize, respect and respond to the love, mercy, and majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ.
(Psalms 104:1-4, Daniel 12:4, 2 Peter 3:8-10, Luke 21:25-28, Romans 1:18-32, 10:17) Contact Brenda Groves bkgroves1996@yahoo.com
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